Environmental adaptation and homology in the skeleton
Learning objectives
- To approach the notions of species, biodiversity and evolution.
- To approach the notion of homology by comparing the skeletons of the anterior limbs of different mammals.
- To identify the points in common among, and the differences between, the principal modes of animal locomotion.
- To identify the organs involved in motion and explain in what ways they are adapted to their environment.
Within the group known as mammals there exists a great diversity of methods of locomotion. Some animals are adapted to a terrestrial environment, others to an aquatic environment and still others to an aerial environment. The anterior lilmb of each species has a particular form, adapted to its environment.
The comparison of skeletal organization in the anterior limbs of four different species shows that mammals display a homology of limbs (inherited from their common tetrapod ancestor).
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